Long-time Mac peripheral and accessory maker Other World Computing made a number of new product announcements throughout the last week at CES. Ars spoke to company representatives on the show floor about several new products, including SSDs for the MacBook Air, a new enterprise class 2.5" SSD drive, as well as new enterprise storage products using mini-SAS (Serial Attached SCSI).

We were also able to sneak a peek at an unannounced PCI Express-based modular SSD for Mac Pros (as well as Windows PCs), and a look at updated Newer Technology miniStacks designed for the latest Mac mini models.

Mini and maxi SSDs

Adding to OWC's line of replacement MacBook Air SSD modules, the company has announced a 480GB version of its Aura Pro Express 6G SSD module for the 2011 MacBook Air. The newest MacBook Air models support SATA speeds up to 6Gbps, though the drives Apple ships only operate at 3Gbps. OWC recently introduced 120GB and 240GB 6G SSD modules for these newer Air models, but we were shown a new 480GB version at CES.

MacBook Air users can get 3x the performance and up to 8x the capacity of a stock MacBook Air SSD with OWC's new 480GB 6Gbps Aura Express module.

Chris Foresman

The 480GB Aura Pro Express SSD offers up to 3x the data throughput of stock Apple drives, as well as 8x the capacity of the stock 64GB drive. The 480GB 6G modules should be available in late January (OWC's website currently shows a five-day lead time), but the speed and storage space will cost you: prepare to fork over $1,149. On the other hand, you can't get a MacBook Air SSD with that speed or capacity at any price from Apple or anyone else.

Thankfully, you'll now be able to repurpose the smaller stock SSD module you pull out of your MacBook Air using OWC's Mecury Aura Envoy enclosure. The all-aluminum enclosure is tapered and finished like a MacBook Air, and the preproduction sample we handled was light and slim. To re-use a factory SSD, slide it into the Envoy, close it up with two screws, and hook it up to your MacBook Air via USB. The Envoy supports UBS 3.0, so when Apple updates to the faster standard (likely with the launch of Ivy Bridge Macs) you'll get data speeds as high as 500MB/s.

The OWC Mercury Aura Envoy makes it easy to repurpose a stock Apple MacBook Air SSD.

Chris Foresman

The thin Envoy matches the look and feel of the MacBook Air, and works with USB 3.0 as well as USB 2.0 ports.

Chris Foresman

The Mercury Aura Envoy is set to ship in late March for $50. If that's too long to wait, however, OWC is now shipping versions of its Mercury On-The-Go USB 3.0 enclosure and Mecury Elite Pro FW/USB/eSATA enclosure that are compatible with MacBook Air SSD modules for $70 and $110, respectively.

OWC now offers an enterprise-class 2.5" SSD option with failsafe data writes and a seven-year warranty.

Chris Foresman

OWC is also launching an enterprise-class version of its Mercury SSDs dubbed Mercury Enterprise Pro 6G. These SSDs use the latest SandForce controllers, as do OWC's other solid state storage. The main differences are the use of Toshiba enterprise-class toggle synchronous 10K NAND chips, which offer 3x the reliability compared to standard MLC NAND; Paratus Power Technology, which uses a small battery backup that enables queued data writes to finish in the case of power loss; and a seven-year warranty, which OWC marketing manager Grant Dahlke claims is the longest in the industry. Essentially, OWC is saying this is as "mission critical" as 2.5" SSDs come.

The Mercury Enterprise Pro 6G line starts at $629 for 50GB and goes up to 400GB for $2,199, and the drives will ship by the end of March.

PCI prototype

Sticking with SSDs for a minute, OWC had on the show floor a prototype of an unannounced PCI Express-based SSD drive. The card is built around a Marvell-based hardware RAID controller connected to four mini-PCI Express slots. The slots can be filled with NAND flash modules similar (though not identical) to those used in the MacBook Air. The slots can be filled with between one and four modules as needed, up to 2TB worth. According to OWC CEO Larry O'Connor, the drive is capable of nearly 2GB/s sustained transfer rates.

OWC had a prototype PCI card SSD on the show floor at CES. The product should launch sometime this year, giving Mac Pro users the first PCI Express SSD option.

Chris Foresman

The unnamed SSD is compatible with both Macs and Windows PCs and, according to O'Connor, will be the first PCI Express SSD solution for Mac Pro users. Pricing and availability have not been determined—the card on the CES show floor is one of the first assembled prototypes—but O'Connor told Ars it will most likely launch around the second half of the year.

The new PCI Express SSD option is modular, using small NAND flash sticks to add up to 2TB.

Chris Foresman

From Mercury to Jupiter

Jupiter comes in 4- and 8-bay towers as well as 8- and 16-bay racks.

Chris Foresman

Moving on to more enterprise-class storage options, OWC is launching a new Jupiter line of mini-SAS storage options. The Line will consist of 8- and 16-bay rack enclosures as well as 4- and 8-bay desktop tower enclosures. These can be packed with SAS or SATA drives and configured in RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60 and JBOD arrangements. Jupiter connects via mini-SAS in a single or double-wide cable configuration for data throughput rates from 24-48Gbps.

Jupiter towers and racks include redundant hot-swappable power supplies.

Chris Foresman

A Jupiter power supply unit.

Chris Foresman

Product development specialist Chris Haeffner explained that the Jupiter drive enclosures can connect directly to a Mac Pro using a mini-SAS PCI Express card. However, the drives can also be connected to an upcoming 9-port hub to create a storage area network (SAN). Effectively any combination of Jupiter RAIDs and Macs can be connected, so you could have two RAIDs shared with up to seven Macs, or just one Mac connected to massive amounts of storage in up to eight Jupiter boxes.

A simple two-port mini-SAS card adds support for Jupiter storage to a Mac Pro.

Chris Foresman

Haeffner also said Jupiter-based SANs can also be expanded further using mini-SAS switches from enterprise storage vendor LSI. While LSI focuses on large enterprise deployments, OWC hopes Jupiter will address the needs of SMBs that have growing high-speed and or high-capacity storage demands.

Jupiter units rack mount and can connect either directly or in a SAN topology using a mini-SAS switch or hub.

Chris Foresman

To that end, OWC will soon offer a Thunderbolt to mini-SAS adapter, allowing iMacs, Mac minis, MacBook Pros, and even MacBook Airs to work with Jupiter storage in either direct or SAN connections.

Also, Jupiter offers significant cost-to-performance benefits over competing solutions, such as Fibre Channel. At 24Gbps throughput, a Jupiter mini-SAS setup offers 3x the performance of 8Gbps Fibre Channel. At the same time, though, it can cost up to 5x less for the infrastructure. For example, four workstations with PCI cards, a 9-port hub, and 10 meters each of active cabling costs around $5,000. The same setup in Fibre Channel would run about $25,000, according to Haeffner.

Mac mini to the max

Finally, OWC will offer some useful new storage options for Mac mini users under its NewerTechnology brand. The company has broken its miniStack storage add-on for Mac minis into two separate offerings. The first is a slim miniStack that is sized to match the latest unibody Mac minis. It features FireWire 800, USB 3.0, and eSATA ports, and a single 3.5" hard disk drive storage option up to 4TB. As its name implies, you can stack your Mac mini on top, connect using FireWire or USB, and you've got instant storage expansion.

The standard miniStack connects via USB 3.0, FireWire 800, or eSATA.

Chris Foresman

The new miniStack Max, however, kicks the basic miniStack concept into overdrive. This version adds an optical drive—currently a DVD/CD-R SuperDrive, but Blu-ray will be an option soon, a front-facing SD card reader, and a three-port USB 3.0 hub on the rear. We think the miniStack Max—especially with a Blu-ray-compatible optical drive—would make a really good fit for a Mac mini-based HTPC set up.

NewerTech's miniStack Max on the left, compared to the standard miniStack on the right. Both have been designed to pair with unibody Mac minis.

Chris Foresman

The miniStack Max adds back an optical drive to the 2011 Mac mini.

Chris Foresman

The miniStack Max has (from left to right) three USB 3.0 ports, two FireWire 800 ports, and an eSATA port for wide compatibility with Macs and PCs.

Chris Foresman

A couple interesting features we noted from our conversation with Dahlke is that one of the USB ports on the rear of the miniStack Max can output a full 10W to fully recharge an iPad. Also, both new miniStacks include USB 3.0 and eSATA ports for future-proofing—as we said, Ivy Bridge-based Macs will very likely support USB 3.0—and wide compatibility with PCs. Though the styling and size are designed to match the Mac mini, a miniStack would be a nice complement to SFF Windows or Linux boxes. Also, Dalke told Ars, we can expect Thunderbolt versions as soon as OWC and NewerTech can get its hands on controllers in volume.

This vertical USB 3.0 port (left) can output up to 2A (or 10W total) to charge high-power devices like the iPad.

Chris Foresman

Both new miniStacks should be available at the end of March with pricing to be determined. Users will be able to buy empty enclosures and add their own SATA drive, or order one with 500GB to 4TB preinstalled.

The two Ministacks seem like a good idea, until you realize that all those high-speed busses & devices have to connect back to your Mini with, at most, FW800. The article mentions that they'll be launching a Thunderbolt flavor soon, but come on--why even launch the product at all without it?

Same for the little Aura SSD external container--neat idea, but why in the name of all that's good and holy would you put an SSD in it and then connect back via USB? Thunderbolt or go home.

I would love to know who the OEM is for the SAS card they're offering with the Jupiter enclosures.

If I had to guess, I'd say LSI. Considering that's who they're partnering with for other parts of the Jupiter system.

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is the Raid done on the card, or by the enclosure?

I'm thinking it's got to be done by the enclosure. If it was done by the controller in the clients, I'm not sure how you'd manage a SAN setup.

The miniStacks being released without Thunderbolt support strikes me as a silly move, particularly for the miniStack Max. Considering that the current Minis only support USB 2.0, you're really bandwidth constraining the devices by connecting via that, and FW800 isn't that much faster compared to USB 3.0 or Tb. For the regular miniStack it's not a big issue, but for the Max with a USB 3.0 hub and other ports Tb would make much more sense.

Same for the little Aura SSD external container--neat idea, but why in the name of all that's good and holy would you put an SSD in it and then connect back via USB? Thunderbolt or go home.

For what's essentially a (possibly large, expensive, high-end) Flash Drive, USB makes the most sense to me. It's going to be the most ubiquitous interface in terms of connectivity with pretty much anything else.

Considering that the only device with more than 1 Thunderbolt port is the 27" iMac, using your only high-speed port for a flash drive seems silly to me. (Granted, the MBAs and MBPs don't have many more USB ports, but at least it's "more than one".)

As I said in my post: FW800 isn't that much faster than USB 2.0 compared to USB 3.0 or Tb. Never mind a 3-port USB 3.0 hub, SD reader, optical drive, and eSATA. A current platter-based hard drive can swamp FW800 with sequential transfers.

For the regular miniStack, USB 2.0 or FW800 is acceptable (if suboptimal). For the miniStack Max, it's not nearly enough. It's a product that's screaming for Thunderbolt support.

As I said in my post: FW800 isn't that much faster than USB 2.0 compared to USB 3.0 or Tb. Never mind a 3-port USB 3.0 hub, SD reader, optical drive, and eSATA. A current platter-based hard drive can swamp FW800 with sequential transfers.

For the regular miniStack, USB 2.0 or FW800 is acceptable (if suboptimal). For the miniStack Max, it's not nearly enough. It's a product that's screaming for Thunderbolt support.

I agree, and OWC said there's one coming (as well as a Blu-ray-equipped version). The problem getting Tb support is controller supply constraints as well as access to the necessary developer kits, according to OWC. Other vendors told us similar things, and expect the bottleneck to clear up around Q2 this year when Intel "officially" launches a standardized Thunderbolt licensing program.

The two Ministacks seem like a good idea, until you realize that all those high-speed busses & devices have to connect back to your Mini with, at most, FW800. The article mentions that they'll be launching a Thunderbolt flavor soon, but come on--why even launch the product at all without it?

2010 Mac minis don't have Tb but would be compatible with these, for one. Plenty of non-Mac hardware that lacks Tb is also compatible.

Agreed that I personally would only get a Tb version. Maybe that one may also have some kind of eGPU option?

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Same for the little Aura SSD external container--neat idea, but why in the name of all that's good and holy would you put an SSD in it and then connect back via USB? Thunderbolt or go home.

USB makes this enclosure small while having the widest compatibility among Macs and PCs. Making it USB 3.0 also means it will be faster on future Ivy Bridge Macs that will very likely include USB 3.0 support since it will be native in Ivy Bridge chipsets.

Is it just me, or does this article read like a press release for OWC?

I'll admit to being enthusiastic about these products after walking the show floor and being inundated with piles of speaker docks, compact Bluetooth keyboards, and an endless sea of iPhone and iPad cases. However, all the information is based strictly on my own experiences on the show floor including conversations with OWC representatives.

The problem getting Tb support is controller supply constraints as well as access to the necessary developer kits, according to OWC.

Well that sucks. Talk about leaving peripheral developers in a bind.

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expect the bottleneck to clear up around Q2 this year when Intel "officially" launches a standardized Thunderbolt licensing program.

Just in time for Ivy Bridge (and related chipsets with native USB 3.0 support) to launch? Unleash the conspiracy theories!

Oh, THAT conspiracy has been out since Intel announced USB 3.0 would not be fully supported until 1Q 2012 in Ivy Bridge. People were accusing them of holding USB 3.0 back to give Thunderbolt a chance. Ignoring the fact that Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 don't compete any more than PCIe and USB 2.0 compete.

These are some fine-looking pieces of hardware, and I especially like the alternative to Fiber Channel being 5X less expensive. I'm glad I've held out for a MBA or MBP until USB 3 come out, but for way more reason stat that alone!

Now that would be interesting. Does Tb have high enough bandwidth and low enough latency to make external GPUs worthwhile for gaming? That'd be my single biggest worry.

Your worried about GAMING in a Mac Mini??

Admittedly it would be cool though. From what I've read I'd surmise that you could do an external GPU with Thunderbolt... but it would most likely take up the bandwidth of the cable. (Preventing you from using it for a monitor. So you'd probably need 2 thunderbolt ports.)

Hell no! It was an honest question though. All the "OMG eGPU *squee*" cries I hear every time someone brings up Thunderbolt seem to imply the idea of gaming on a Mini (or MBA). I just think that there'd be significant extra latency compared to on-motherboard PCIe -- enough that it would make high frame rate interactive usage very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.

Maybe I'm wrong though, and it'd be a cool solution -- though a bit low on the bandwidth side, as you mentioned.

For other eGPU uses (like OpenCL/GPGPU), I'd think that the current Tb implementation should be ok.

Now that would be interesting. Does Tb have high enough bandwidth and low enough latency to make external GPUs worthwhile for gaming? That'd be my single biggest worry.

Your worried about GAMING in a Mac Mini??

Admittedly it would be cool though. From what I've read I'd surmise that you could do an external GPU with Thunderbolt... but it would most likely take up the bandwidth of the cable. (Preventing you from using it for a monitor. So you'd probably need 2 thunderbolt ports.)

Isn't the bandwidth of TB statically-partitioned into 'external PCIE' and 'display port' allocations? I thought you'd always have enough for the display no matter what, and all your chained devices compete for the remainder.

Now that would be interesting. Does Tb have high enough bandwidth and low enough latency to make external GPUs worthwhile for gaming? That'd be my single biggest worry.

There are a couple of companies which have announced and/or demoed Thunderbolt-based external PCIe chassises. In theory anyway, stick a GPU card in one of those and you're good to go. The one I read about recently had a fairly small internal power supply (enough to supply the 150 W that PCIe provides, but no separate 6 or 8 pin power connectors), so no high-end GPUs, but even 150 W worth of GPU is far above what your typical laptop has, so that could be a pretty substantial boost for someone who wants to bring their laptop home and do some gaming.

Isn't the bandwidth of TB statically-partitioned into 'external PCIE' and 'display port' allocations? I thought you'd always have enough for the display no matter what, and all your chained devices compete for the remainder.

I think it is, but the "DisplayPort" portion is only for displaying pixels on a monitor -- that is, the same as a non-Tb DP connection or a DVI or HDMI connection. Everything else (including this eGPU) would be using the external PCIe bandwidth.

Isn't the bandwidth of TB statically-partitioned into 'external PCIE' and 'display port' allocations? I thought you'd always have enough for the display no matter what, and all your chained devices compete for the remainder.

I think it is, but the "DisplayPort" portion is only for displaying pixels on a monitor -- that is, the same as a non-Tb DP connection or a DVI or HDMI connection. Everything else (including this eGPU) would be using the external PCIe bandwidth.

Thats what I thought. I was just a little confused by the poster I replied to, which I read to mean as 'the GPU takes all the bandwidth of the cable, leaving no room to push pixels'.So in reality, you could still run dual head: the external GPU doing best it can with the PCIe bandwidth, outputting to a monitor connected directly to it, and you onboard GPU streaming raw pixels to another screen using the DisplayPort guaranteed allocation. So in the context of dantesan's post whilst the bandwith to the GPU might be too aenemic for extreme gaming, you should still be able to run a display over it too.

FWIW, Sony's Vaio Z dock connects to the Vaio Z via an optical Thunderbolt protocol connection (though it uses a non-standard* modified USB 3.0 port to do it), which includes an external discrete mobile GPU. The Vaio Z itself will switch the built-in display to use this GPU when the dock is connected, and it also has an HDMI port (and maybe DisplayPort) on it as well for an external monitor.

So, it can definitely be done—Sony have proven it for a mobile discrete GPU. Can't speak to the performance in a gaming rig, but maybe I'll see if there is a way I can test that.

Is it just me, or does this article read like a press release for OWC?

And which CES reports did not? They all write from having visited a booth and talked to a rep...all repeating talking points made on the mfr's home court. Reminds me of when this site or that site gets accused of too many Mac articles when the actual article counts reflect Windows coverage parity.

Personally, I am such a fan of OWC's upgrades to my Macs that this is relevant to my interests.

Another post said "...despite the Mac-centric nature..." but there's really no reason you couldn't use these devices with a Windows PC since the number of proprietary interfaces on them is zero, except I suppose for the MacBook Air internal SSD.

I'd forgotten about the Vaio Z having a Tb external GPU. I'd be interested in how it compares to an internal, but that could be tricky to test.

The external GPU for the Viao Z is only a midrange mobile GPU, so it's doubtful it'll be anything amazing.

A prior poster referenced it, but the GUS II is, basically, a generic PCI-e enclosure supplying 150W of power. That 150W obviously isn't enough for many high end desktop cards... but, considering the only laptop with Thunderbolt on it (actual Thunderbolt, not Sony's proprietary variant) has a charger that can only provide less than a third that wattage (45W), you obviously have a lot of room to blow away a mobile GPU (or the HD3000).

Thunderbolt is "only" equivalent to about PICe 2.5, but, that's really more than enough bandwidth. Despite popular belief, there isn't much of a drop at all going from 16x to 4x (16x -> 8x is rarely even measurable). And, if technology like nVidia's PCIe compression is leveraged (currently only used on a 1x interface), then the ~2.5x equivalent bandwidth will likely give pretty close performance to the card running at 16x. Thunderbolt is also extremely low latency (unlike USB), so it would be quite hard to measure a difference (much less notice!).

Thunderbolt is also full-duplex (apparently unlike any of the existing USB3 implementations), so if you wanted to have the eGPU drive the internal's display (laptop / all-in-one system), you would either be able to send the data by via the PCIe channel or via the DisplayPort channel (DisplayPort can be run in either direction).

The two Ministacks seem like a good idea, until you realize that all those high-speed busses & devices have to connect back to your Mini with, at most, FW800. The article mentions that they'll be launching a Thunderbolt flavor soon, but come on--why even launch the product at all without it?

Same for the little Aura SSD external container--neat idea, but why in the name of all that's good and holy would you put an SSD in it and then connect back via USB? Thunderbolt or go home.

The MiniStack can't saturate USB 3.0 or ESATA or FireWire 800 it's a platter drive you don't need more then USB 2.0 for those. I agree SSDs need the higher bandwidth of the newer standards but platter drives don't. The only platter drives that could need more bandwidth would be 15K RPM models with a ton of cache.

The two Ministacks seem like a good idea, until you realize that all those high-speed busses & devices have to connect back to your Mini with, at most, FW800. The article mentions that they'll be launching a Thunderbolt flavor soon, but come on--why even launch the product at all without it?

Same for the little Aura SSD external container--neat idea, but why in the name of all that's good and holy would you put an SSD in it and then connect back via USB? Thunderbolt or go home.

The MiniStack can't saturate USB 3.0 or ESATA or FireWire 800 it's a platter drive you don't need more then USB 2.0 for those. I agree SSDs need the higher bandwidth of the newer standards but platter drives don't. The only platter drives that could need more bandwidth would be 15K RPM models with a ton of cache.

I wouldn't want the thing for whatever internal disk it has in it; I'd want it so that I could plug other high-speed devices into its high speed ports.

Is it just me, or does this article read like a press release for OWC?

??? Beyond the fact that it isn't (given that all the photos are by the author), what does this matter? I don't get OWC press releases and I wasn't at the CES. I rely on Ars to keep me up on these things, and I find this treatment of products I wasn't aware of very interesting.

2TB SSD for a Mac Pro? *Very* interesting - although I expect I'll blanch at the price. Then again, if OWC can do it, so can Apple, so I expect some option upgrades from Apple this year.